What does horror tell us about our fears?

Horror is the metamorphosis of diseases, crises, abuses, injustices and wars into monsters, which tell more about society than about themselves. Through the perspective of terror, horror dissects the human body to find the demons that haunt it and puts them on stage. It places us in a position from which we can only face what frightens us. Horror is catharsis, which purifies in the act of observing our nightmares.

Fear of disease is my own personal monster. Talking about it is not easy, it is not easy to find the words to describe the ‘terrifying creatures’ that I have encountered on my journey. What comes in handy is the metaphorical way in which horror conveys and analyses the uncanny, touching the chords that stimulate the deepest fears. The methodology on which a horror story is built becomes, therefore, an excellent ally in declining the metaphors of hypochondria. It succeeds in projecting them into images that move and haunt protagonists and audience alike.

“Sintomo” is a short film, it is the access door to my nightmare, a deforming and disintegrating one; it is a mirror showing an alienated body, a burning body. “Sintomo” incarnates the conviction of being ill, which transforms what was only imaginary into real, which makes the dreaded symptoms appear on the skin. “Sintomo” deals with the hypochondriac hallucination that breaks down the boundaries between imagination and reality.